Deuteronomy 25
Overview
Deuteronomy 25 addresses a range of issues with laws concerning fair punishment, levirate marriage, and maintaining honesty in business practices. The chapter reflects the principles of justice, familial duty, and integrity in the Israelite community. Key elements include:
Limits on Punishment: The chapter begins with guidelines for punishment following a legal dispute. If someone is found guilty and deserves to be beaten, the number of lashes should not exceed forty, ensuring the punishment is not excessive and the person’s dignity is not degraded.
Levirate Marriage: The chapter includes the law of levirate marriage, where if a man dies without having children, his brother is to marry the widow. The first son born to them shall carry on the name of the dead brother, ensuring the continuation of his lineage and property within the family.
Refusal of Levirate Marriage: If the brother refuses to marry the widow, she is to go to the elders and report his refusal. She is then to perform a ritual involving the removal of his sandal and spitting in his face, signifying his rejection of family responsibility.
Fairness in Business Practices: Deuteronomy 25 also emphasizes the importance of honesty in business. It instructs the Israelites to use accurate and honest weights and measures in trade. Dishonest practices are detestable to the LORD.
Remembering Amalek: The chapter ends with a command to remember what the Amalekites did to the Israelites when they came out of Egypt. They are instructed to blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven, reflecting the ongoing consequences of hostility against Israel.
Deuteronomy 25 presents a blend of laws that navigate between personal rights, communal responsibilities, and ethical standards. The chapter shows a concern for upholding justice, preserving family lineage and honor, and ensuring honesty in everyday transactions. These laws are meant to foster a society where fairness, integrity, and the fulfillment of family duties are paramount.
Limits on Punishment: The chapter begins with guidelines for punishment following a legal dispute. If someone is found guilty and deserves to be beaten, the number of lashes should not exceed forty, ensuring the punishment is not excessive and the person’s dignity is not degraded.
Levirate Marriage: The chapter includes the law of levirate marriage, where if a man dies without having children, his brother is to marry the widow. The first son born to them shall carry on the name of the dead brother, ensuring the continuation of his lineage and property within the family.
Refusal of Levirate Marriage: If the brother refuses to marry the widow, she is to go to the elders and report his refusal. She is then to perform a ritual involving the removal of his sandal and spitting in his face, signifying his rejection of family responsibility.
Fairness in Business Practices: Deuteronomy 25 also emphasizes the importance of honesty in business. It instructs the Israelites to use accurate and honest weights and measures in trade. Dishonest practices are detestable to the LORD.
Remembering Amalek: The chapter ends with a command to remember what the Amalekites did to the Israelites when they came out of Egypt. They are instructed to blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven, reflecting the ongoing consequences of hostility against Israel.
Deuteronomy 25 presents a blend of laws that navigate between personal rights, communal responsibilities, and ethical standards. The chapter shows a concern for upholding justice, preserving family lineage and honor, and ensuring honesty in everyday transactions. These laws are meant to foster a society where fairness, integrity, and the fulfillment of family duties are paramount.
Deuteronomy 25
1 If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked.
2 And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number.
3 Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee.
4 Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.
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5 If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her.
6 And it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel.
7 And if the man like not to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, My husband's brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my husband's brother.
8 Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him: and if he stand to it, and say, I like not to take her;
9 Then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother's house.
10 And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed.
11 When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets:
12 Then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pity her.
13 Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small.
14 Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small.
15 But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
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16 For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the LORD thy God.
17 Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt;
18 How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God.
19 Therefore it shall be, when the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it.
End of Deuteronomy 25
1 Year Plan: Mar 25 - Deut 25, Deut 26, Luk 16
2 And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number.
3 Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee.
4 Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.
🔑 Devotion | 🔑 Kingdom Principle
5 If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her.
6 And it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel.
7 And if the man like not to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, My husband's brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my husband's brother.
8 Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him: and if he stand to it, and say, I like not to take her;
9 Then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother's house.
10 And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed.
11 When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets:
12 Then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pity her.
13 Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small.
14 Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small.
15 But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
🔑 See & Share Jesus
16 For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the LORD thy God.
17 Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt;
18 How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God.
19 Therefore it shall be, when the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it.
End of Deuteronomy 25
1 Year Plan: Mar 25 - Deut 25, Deut 26, Luk 16
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